‘Mamma Mia’ actor Chris Peluso dies at 40

Actor and singer best known for his Broadway and stage performances Chris Peluso passed away at the age of 40 People reportedPelusos family reportedly told Playbill that the performer passed away abruptly on August 15 He is survived by his wife of one year Jessica Gomes and his two little children Aria Li and Caio LianThe University of Michigan Pelusos alma institution also paid tribute to the late actor on its Instagram page for the musicaltheatre departmentThe Michigan Musical Theatre family is heartbroken as we announce the passing of our dear family member the loving charismatic and divinely giftedChris Peluso wrote Linda Goodrich interim chair of the schools musicaltheatre departmentGoodrich listed a few of Pelusos major performances such as his Broadway debut in Assassins Lestat The Glorious Ones and Beautiful The Carole King Musical He also appeared as Sky in Mamma Mia on Broadway in 2008 and as Fiyero in the Wicked tour Our hearts go out to his family Goodrich addedIn addition to the American plays Peluso also performed in a UK tour of Funny Girl Show Boat Miss Saigon The Woman in White and Death Takes a Holiday in London according to Playbillcom He also played Tony and Marius respectively in productions of West Side Story and Les MiserablesPeluso was also pursuing a masters degree in therapeutic counselling according to his reacutesumeacute on the Artists and Beyond website in part to help students navigate the anxieties inherent in a career in the artsLast year in September a GoFundMe page was created in Pelusos name requesting for donations for mental health care due to a prior diagnosis of schizoaffective disease which resulted in Chris experiencing debilitating paranoia which has kept him from performing in recent yearsPeluso stated in a November update to the lsquoGoFundMersquo that he had finished treatment and was stable and doing wellThe GoFundMe garnered more than 25000 before donations were haltedIm able to hold down a job again and even began taping some auditions he addedItrsquos going to be a life long process of going to therapy and working with doctors but Irsquom so much better than I was before treatment It really means the world to me to have such incredible support from you all None of this progress would have been possible without yourdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever